Overall
- Bozeman
- 102.5
- Walla Walla
- 98.5
Diff -4.0 RPP
Bozeman vs Walla Walla
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Walla Walla is 3.9% less expensive than Bozeman.
3.9% less expensive
Walla Walla, WA is 3.9% less expensive than Bozeman, MT on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.5 vs 102.5). A $100,000 salary in Bozeman buys about the same as $96,107 in Walla Walla; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 102.5 (Bozeman) vs 98.5 (Walla Walla)
- $100k in Bozeman ≈ $96,107 purchasing power in Walla Walla
- Rents drives the gap (-52.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MT:WA 102.5→98.5
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE MT × WA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- PP-SHIFT PP shift
Instrument codes from this pair's BEA Regional Price Parities (overall · goods · services · rents · national benchmark 100 · purchasing-power conversion), not a ranking or recommendation.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Bozeman
- 96.0
- Walla Walla
- 105.0
Diff +9.0 RPP
Services
- Bozeman
- 73.6
- Walla Walla
- 94.3
Diff +20.7 RPP
Rents
- Bozeman
- 139.2
- Walla Walla
- 86.6
Diff -52.6 RPP
| Category | Bozeman | Walla Walla | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 102.5 | 98.5 | -4.0 |
| Goods | 96.0 | 105.0 | +9.0 |
| Services | 73.6 | 94.3 | +20.7 |
| Rents | 139.2 | 86.6 | -52.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Bozeman 102.5
Walla Walla 98.5
Goods
Bozeman 96.0
Walla Walla 105.0
Services
Bozeman 73.6
Walla Walla 94.3
Rents
Bozeman 139.2
Walla Walla 86.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Walla Walla is 52.6 points lower. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Walla Walla, WA is 3.9% less expensive than Bozeman, MT, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 4.0-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Bozeman is above 100 while Walla Walla is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
For a housing-sensitive move, validate the rent gap first: HUD Fair Market Rent and the actual unit size can overturn what the blended index implies. On the BEA ratio alone, $100,000 in Bozeman corresponds to $96,107 in Walla Walla.
Bozeman
102.5
Cost Index
Walla Walla
98.5
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Bozeman would need to be in Walla Walla for the same purchasing power:
| In Bozeman | In Walla Walla | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,053 | $-1,947 |
| $75,000 | $72,080 | $-2,920 |
| $100,000 | $96,107 | $-3,893 |
| $150,000 | $144,160 | $-5,840 |
$ in Bozeman = in Walla Walla
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (102.5 → 98.5), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Bozeman and Walla Walla share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 3.2 to 4.0 RPP points. Bozeman remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 37.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (14.8 to 52.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Bozeman RPP | Walla Walla RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 98.8 | 95.6 | 3.2 points Bozeman higher |
| 2012 | 97.1 | 95.1 | 1.9 points Bozeman higher |
| 2016 | 97.5 | 96.3 | 1.1 points Bozeman higher |
| 2020 | 96.5 | 95.2 | 1.3 points Bozeman higher |
| 2024 | 102.5 | 98.5 | 4.0 points Bozeman higher |
Annual BEA Regional Price Parity releases; a higher index means a higher price level relative to the national average of 100. Selected years shown from the full shared series.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Walla Walla more expensive than Bozeman?
Walla Walla is 3.9% less expensive than Bozeman. The overall cost index is 98.5 vs 102.5 (national average = 100).
What salary in Walla Walla equals $100K in Bozeman?
A $100,000 salary in Bozeman has the same purchasing power as $96,107 in Walla Walla. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Bozeman and Walla Walla?
Rents in Bozeman are indexed at 139.2 while Walla Walla is at 86.6 (national average = 100). Bozeman has higher rents.
Data sources
- BEA Regional Price Parities (RPP), the cost-of-living indices shown on this page
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS), gross-rent observations behind the rents component
- BLS Consumer Price Index (CPI), goods and services price relatives
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), labor-driven services component
- HUD Fair Market Rents (FMR), 40th-percentile rent cross-reference
Every figure on PlainCost is rendered directly from BEA Regional Price Parity source data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, our changelog, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-08-11. Rankings measure the published cost-of-living index only; we don't recommend where to live or rate any metro's quality of life.